IF the LFA Amateur Challenge Shield has to be mentioned at Atherton Town for the rest of this season it may be advisable not to do it within earshot of manager Shaun Lynch.

The first team boss was left seething by his team's exit from the competition last Saturday.

Patience had already been stretched to breaking point as the round two tie against Blackrod Town had been postponed six times, leaving Manchester League fixtures to build up on the backburner.

Last Saturday the game was finally played and it turned out to be a day the whole club will want to forget. Town went out 3-2 in extra time but the experience leaves a nasty taste.

Lynch, clearly struggling to control his anger, explains: "First of all, no referee turned up for a Lancashire Shield tie which is a complete farce. Six times off and then when it's on there's no ref there!

"Blackrod went and got someone local in, a young lad of 17 or 18. We agreed to him doing it because we wanted to get the tie played.

"As soon as the game started you could see he was going to struggle. Some of the things which went on in the game were an absolute disgrace. Mark Warburton was elbowed in the face when he went up for the ball then punched when he was on the ground. There was a melee and when they split everyone up he booked Mark. We couldn't believe it. "Young Phil Hornby played for Blackrod last season and he put us in front with a cracking goal then he got a right kicking and he had to come off. In the first half a lad went over the top in a tackle on Steve Crilly and it was so bad it broke his shin-pad in half. We could see the way things were going so we kept a 'foul count' from the line. There was 22 for Blackrod and 8 for us which has to say something about what was going on out there.

"To cap it all they equalised four minutes into injury time and yet not once was a physio on the pitch in the second half. Where he got that injury time from I'll never know. I feel totally gutted by the whole occasion but if we'd taken our chances it would never have been in doubt.

"Barry Atkins hit the bar with a free kick, Scott Hodgson later put him through but he put it into the side netting and towards the end with us leading 1-0 Andy Morris went round the keeper and squared it. With the entire goal at his mercy Tommy Stokes completely missed it. It's the worst miss I've ever seen."

Hornby's goal had come as early as the 10th minute for Town when he outstripped the home defence and finished into the bottom corner. Despite the controversy surrounding the legitimacy of Blackrod's injury time leveller it was a fine strike from Micky O'Neill from the edge of the area. In extra time, two goals in as many minutes from Darren Shalliker gave Blackrod victory.

The Town Reserves team had a better day winning 5-1 at home to Hollinwood with former Atherton Colls striker Alan Shawcross scoring three and Daniel Christie and Chris Garvey one.

Lynch must quickly regain his composure for what could be the most important week of he season for the club.

Firstly there is the not insignificant matter of this weekend's away fixture at Premier Division leaders Wythenshawe Amateurs.

Secondly no team selection will be more eagerly awaited. Lynch stated last week that with recent signings he now has 26 first team players available. The recent new blood into the club, most notably Shawcross, four goals in two games in the Reserves and the former Pennington trio - Daniel Christie, Allan France and Neil Lewis - were not eligible for the Shield tie. Now they come into contention - or do they? Lynch is the only man with that answer.